The present invention relates to a lamp socket adapted to be mounted in a circuit plate such as a printed circuit board or a flex circuit.
Automobile dash panels typically have lamp assemblies mounted therein to provide visual indication and warning signals. The lamp assemblies are mounted in a circuit plate such as a printed circuit board or a flex circuit affixed to a panel. A common practice has been to provide a lamp assembly in the form of a socket and lamp, and attach the lamp assembly to the circuit plate by inserting the socket axially into an opening in the circuit plate, and then rotating the socket in order to lock the socket in the circuit plate. In so doing, electric terminals carried by the socket slide along the panel and make electrical connection with the circuit. Those steps are performed in reverse sequence to remove the socket.
Problems resulting from that procedure include the risk that the terminal may tear the circuit as it slides thereacross during installation or removal, especially in the case of a flex circuit.
Sockets have been previously proposed which do not require rotation for installation, e.g., see commonly assigned Fitzgerald et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,277. In the arrangement described in that patent, insertion of the socket is performed in the axial direction, whereupon locking lips of the socket become flexed and then snap-out on the opposite side of the circuit plate to prevent axial removal of the socket. When it is desired to remove the socket, the socket is rotated to bring the locking lips into axial alignment with apertures of the panel so that the socket can be displaced axially through the panel. Thus, it will be appreciated that the circuit could be damaged during removal of the socket. Even if the rotation step were omitted during socket removal by simply forcing the socket axially through the opening in a manner breaking-off the locking lips, such a procedure would be undesirable because it would leave the broken-off locking lips in the dash panel.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a lamp assembly which can be installed and removed from a circuit plate without having to rotate the socket, and without leaving broken-off pieces of the socket behind.
It would also be desirable to reduce the area of the circuit surface which is occupied by an installed socket, i.e., to reduce the size of the "footprint" of the socket on the circuit plate.